Ice Cream Fascism

     Never a dull moment.  I was preparing to write a long-planned post today about the evils . . . I mean, drawbacks of public education when the Powers That Be saw fit to provide me with some lively opening material (my lovely bride keeps a file full of items just like these labeled “Why Homeschool”). Item One: an eigth-grade student who opts out of testing for Common Core (a statist double-whammy in which the federal government simultaneously usurps the states’ control of education and implements a comprehensive program of leftist indoctrination for young students) is suspended by the school (link); the linked article also mentions a student in another state who is suspended simply for telling other students that they may opt out; and , to top it off, there’s this:

In Arkport. N.Y., meanwhile, school officials prompted outrage after rewarding children in third through sixth grades who took the English test with ice cream, while denying it to those students who opted out.

 There it is! Ice Cream Fascism! It seems America’s soft fascism (soft serve fascism?) is quickly turning into a double scoop of hard serve. 

     If you think I’m overreacting, watch this video from WMUR television in New Hampshire [link], and read the story from WCVB,  another local outlet [link], in which a father is arrested (yes, arrested) for speaking out at a school board meeting about an objectionable book that had been assigned to his daughter.  Again, watch the video if you don’t believe me: the man does not curse, or get violent, and although clearly upset is not shouting or out of control.  His only “offense” is speaking out of turn: he is arrested, as he says, “for violating the two-minute rule.”

     Even if the authorities in Gilford, NH, had respected this man’s First Amendment right to free speech, unfortunately, the courts in the United States have ruled consistently [link] that parents do not have a right to withdraw their children from any information in public schools, even in extreme cases (see, for instance, Brown vs. Hot, Sexy and Safer Productions, link). Public schools throughout the country have for some time now had all sorts of offerings promoting promiscuity and sexual license, often contracted out to outfits such as the defendant in the case linked above, or to the world’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.  The U.S. Supreme court has recognized, on the other hand, that parents do have the right not to send their children to public schools in the first place.

     This was not to be the topic of the post I was planning, which is to be a broad philosophical discussion of how the school environment relates to the development of young people and how it forms their understanding of their role in their family and in society.  I have some relevant information that I think you’ll find quite interesting, but it is a thoughtful, long-view look at the topic.  I’ll get it done some day soon. Today is the short view:  stay away from the public schools, and if your kids are already there, pull them out!